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Slumber

//ˈslʌm.bə// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A very light state of sleep, almost awake.

    "Fast asleep? It is no matter; / Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber."

  2. 2
    a dormant or quiescent state wordnet
  3. 3
    A very light state of sleep, almost awake.; A very heavy state of sleep. broadly
  4. 4
    a natural and periodic state of rest during which consciousness of the world is suspended wordnet
  5. 5
    A state of ignorance or inaction. figuratively

    "Marcel Duchamp's urinal and readymades seemed in the beginning to be insider jokes or jokelike paradoxes meant to awaken people from their aesthetic slumbers."

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  1. 6
    The snooze button on an alarm clock. rare
Verb
  1. 1
    To be in a very light state of sleep, almost awake. intransitive

    "He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep."

  2. 2
    be asleep wordnet
  3. 3
    To be inactive or negligent. intransitive
  4. 4
    To lay to sleep. obsolete, transitive

    "slumber his conscience"

  5. 5
    To stun; to stupefy. obsolete, transitive

    "Then vp he tooke the slombred sencelesse corse."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English slombren, slomren, frequentative of Middle English slummen, slumen (“to doze”), probably from Middle English slume (“slumber”), from Old English slūma, from Proto-Germanic *slūm- (“slack, loose, limp, flabby”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lew- (“loose, limp, flabby”). Cognate with West Frisian slommerje, slûmerje (“to slumber”), Dutch sluimeren (“to slumber”), German schlummern (“to slumber, doze”), Swedish slummer (“to slumber”). By surface analysis, sloom + -er.

Etymology 2

From Middle English slombren, slomren, frequentative of Middle English slummen, slumen (“to doze”), probably from Middle English slume (“slumber”), from Old English slūma, from Proto-Germanic *slūm- (“slack, loose, limp, flabby”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lew- (“loose, limp, flabby”). Cognate with West Frisian slommerje, slûmerje (“to slumber”), Dutch sluimeren (“to slumber”), German schlummern (“to slumber, doze”), Swedish slummer (“to slumber”). By surface analysis, sloom + -er.

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